The Jaybird and Crockpot
by Pachowable
Summary: Jason was Artemis' old neighbor and just didn't understand that flirting on a mission was inappropriate. Or flirting with anyone four years older than you.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:...I should be writing other stuff, but I couldn't help it...JASON AND ARTEMIS WOULD BE PERFECT TOGETHER, OKAY? Please review! **

Pre-Death

"…so how about it Lawrence? Wanna go get a drink?" Artemis peeks up from her math homework to see that Mr. Todd, or _Willy_ as her Dad calls him.

Artemis was sitting at the table working on some of her math homework, for Mr. Gobelle her third grade math teacher, that was due yesterday and she had just happened to forget about. She watches as her Dad scratches his head and turns to look back at Artemis. "What do you say, baby girl? Will you be fine for the night? I made you macaroni and it's in the fridge. You just have to heat it up in the microwave."

Artemis nods, "Yeah, Dad, I should be fine."

He smiles and puts on his baseball cap that was hanging on the coat rack next to the door. "Atta girl. Remember to call me if anything happens."

Mr. Todd stops her Dad before he can walk out the door, "Can I leave Jason here? I know Jade used to be the one that would always watch them and I'm sorry about her leaving, but do you think Artemis can watch Jason. Catherine's not…_doing well_."

Her Dad nods, "Yeah, Artemis should be fine with Jason staying, right?" he glances over his shoulder to look at her.

"Yep."

"Lets go bring him over and then get out of here," her Dad pats Mr. Todd on the back and they leave.

The next thing she knows is that she's sitting on the kitchen table nose to nose, staring at Jason Todd. "You're bigger than I remember," he says.

Artemis huffs out in protest, "You shouldn't say that to a lady."

"Well, I can't help if it's true."

"Jerk."

"_Am not._"

"Has your dad even taught you how to talk girls?"

"I'm in _first grade._"

"Doesn't matter."

"Girls are weird."

"Do you want macaroni? I'm hungry."

"Sure, do you have an ketchup, 'Mis?"

"_Why?_"

"To put in my macaroni."

"And you say that girls are weird…"

Artemis nearly snorts out a laugh when she sees the new Robin. It wasn't that he was short or funny looking or anything. It was the fact that she _knew_ him. She would recognize the kid from anywhere, even if he were wearing a domino mask. The original Robin—Nightwing now—is introducing Robin—the new one—to the team. Nightwing—she was still unaware of his real name—seemed awkward as he introduced the Team to Robin. He kept his hand on the boy's shoulder in a protective fashion, but he didn't seem to know how to interact with the boy otherwise.

She doesn't know for sure, but it seems like Robin—the new one—is staring at her. It becomes more apparent as his grin grows. He bursts out laughing and Artemis joins in. The whole team around them is confused, but she doesn't care. This is just too—ironic, maybe?

"Your Robin now?" she laughs.

"Whatever, _Crock_. What are you supposed to be—the Green Whore?" he chokes out between laughs.

Nightwing's brows knit together. "You two know each other?" he asks.

Robin smirks, "Oh _we know each other_," he does a little suggestive eyebrow dance at Artemis.

She snorts, "Whatever you're implying is _not true_."

"Whatever, Crockpot."

"Toddler," she throws back before even realizing that she was basically comprising the new Robin's identity just to be able to make a hit at his self esteem.

She sees the white's of Nightwing's masks widen. Oh, she was going to get it later. "We used to be neighbors before someone went all rebel loner," she smirks even though she knows that she might be going into a bit of a sore subject for him—she didn't know how sore because she hasn't seen him since before.

"I didn't want stay in an empty house," he shrugs, his tone still slightly mocking.

"You could have stayed with us."

At that he laughs again. "Uh huh. Stay with _you_? And your _father_? Ha, I got enough of that mob stuff from my own Dad. I don't need someone training me to become an assassin," he jokes, completely ignoring every boundary. The Team is almost in shock. Artemis doesn't really joke about her family, but here she was, joking with Robin—the _new_ one.

"Please, you would have _enjoyed _it."

"Uh huh, is your mom back?" he asks.

The Team just watches on as the two converses. The two who were usually not that open about anything were suddenly shouting to each other about _everything. _"Yeah, but she's permanently in a wheel chair. Dad's gone, for like, ever."

"Remember that one time he took us to the fair out of town?"

"_Agh_! That was amazing. Stop trying to make me like my dad."

"Oh please. You were _daddy's little girl._"

"Shut it, Todd, but seriously, why didn't you stay with us?"

"Having to spend time with you? No. That alone is a major turnoff."

"Uh huh, and how old are you—eleven?

"Thirteen."

She snorts so hard that it hurts her nose, "_Baby_."

"No."

"You're just a little _baby_."

"I'm going to bite you."

"_Baby_ bite."

He walks up to her like he's about to punch her, but instead he throws his arms around her. "Artemis," he mumbles.

Her heart stings a bit. He's been through so much, why wasn't she there? His parents are dead. She should have foreseen him running away; she should have been able to stop them. "Jay—" she says and ruffles his hair a bit. She knows that now that the entire Team is confused beyond belief at what they were seeing—especially Nightwing. The boy that had been so stubborn and hard was _hugging _someone. The boy had a past that he didn't know about. _She_ paused before adding in the final part. "—Bird." She finishes.

"Jaybird."

Artemis stuffs her face deeper into the pillow when she hears the scratching at the window. She had actually told Ollie that she didn't want to go on patrol tonight because she's just so _tired_. She refused to go on _patrol_. That tells you something.

The knocking on the window continues until Artemis is about ready to grab her bow from underneath her bed and shoot whatever cat is making all that noise.

She opens her window only to be nose to nose with Jason Todd. "Jason…?" she groans and her voice just sounds so _rough_, so unused. Words almost don't come out of her mouth when she first tries to talk.

Without saying anything he comes in the room and sits on Jade's bed. Artemis goes and flips on her lamp, so she can see him better. He's leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. His eyes are puffing from what assumingly must be him crying. "Have you been…" she trails off realizing that even if she asked, she'd just be met with a hard-assed answer from the other. She decides that it's better to take a shot in the dark. "Fight with Bruce?" she asks.

The way he looks at her—it did better than his words could have conveyed. _Yes._ He waits awhile before finally answering her, "He always compares me the Dick, you know? Dick was—_is_ perfect and I just don't know how to measure up to him? Bruce is always saying how 'Dick would have done this better' or 'Dick would have not missed that last guard'. I—it—it's—never mind…But you get what I mean? I'm always being compared to someone who's _perfect._ How do I…" he trails off and digs his face into his arms.

Artemis wants to make the allusion and say that her dad also always compared her to her sister. That everything in the assassin world came so easily to Jade. That her dad always brought that up. That Artemis was _not_ her sister.

She doesn't make the comparison, though, because that's not what Jason needs. What he needs is comfort.

She walks over to Jason and sits next to him and puts her arms around him. He leans into her touch and lets out a small sob. "Jay…there's more isn't there?"

He doesn't say anything at first, but she notices how still and rigid he had gotten in her arms. "'Mis, I haven't' had a family in so long that I don't know what to do when I fail them. To let them down. It—it's almost worse than not having a family… Bruce does so much for me, and all he wants me to do is be Dick, but I don't know how to do that Artemis. How do I do that Artemis?" he asks.

Artemis just cradles him to her chest and strokes his hair. She lets the words sink in before thinking of a response. "Jay, you don't _have _to be Dick—"

"But that's what Bruce _wants._ That's what Batman _wants._"

"Let him adjust to you—he worked with Dick for so long that it's weird switching to someone new."

"But Dick is _perfect._ He's the golden child. Bruce doesn't want someone _new_—he just wants Dick back. It's hard, Artemis…Bruce gives me so much, but I can give him what he wants…"

"Jason…" she mutters and holds onto him tighter. She can feel his angst and pain and just holds onto him. It seems like nothing she says can help him through this. He's just too caught up. He's just too stuck in the shadow of Dick.

At one point they both start to drift and fall asleep. Jason is asleep first and before Artemis can also follow him, she lays them both down on the bed. He instantly cuddles up to her side and digs his face into the crook of her neck. She sighs, knowing that she should call Bruce or maybe Dick.

Instead, she curls up into his hold oblivious to the fact that Dick had been watching them the entire time.

It became a natural occurrence on missions for Artemis and Jason to team up together. Nothing was really announced, they weren't paired together by Kaldur—it just kinda just happens.

Neither of them complain, though.

They reach a balance between Jason's more brutal acrobatics and Artemis' long distance archery and close distance fighting. They're almost always shoulder-to-shoulder in fire fights.

She holds off a couple more guards as Jason exams a Titan contained. They had been sent by Batman to investigate another one of Bane's islands. There had been rumors that he was supplying Titan to multiple sources around the country—initially creating an army of Titan mutants.

There had been five Titan containers around the island, so the Team split up. Jason took the opportunity to claim Artemis as his partner the first chance he had. The boy was just a teensy bit possessive of the archer. "Artemis?" Jason calls over the obvious commotion that was going on a couple feet behind him.

She hops a couple feet back so she's pressing up against his back. She releases a couple more trick arrows in hopes of causing the men to retreat. "Yeah Jaybird?"

"The place is going to blow in about five minutes, Arty. This was all a ruse to get us here," he explains as he continues to type away at the screen.

"And the reason why you haven't told the rest of team is because…?"

"How would I…oh yeah…the mental link."

He quickly alerts the rest of the Team before they make a dash for the exit. She leads him through the twisting corridors. "I'm glad you memorized the way out," he remarks stumbling a few feet behind her.

"Why am I not excited to hear the rest of what you're about to say…"

"I was just a bit _distracted_, if you know what I mean."

"We're about to get blown up and you're _flirting_?"

"…so?"

"I hope you know, if you trip, I'm leaving you."

"Really cause if you were to trip, I would be right beside you."

"That's really sweet, but we're about to die, and I like not dying."

"That's a good thing to like."

"I know right?"

"You know what I'd like…"

"I swear to God, if you continue, I will castrate you."

"Insomnia?" she asks Jason when she comes into the TV room of the cave to find him carelessly watching a documentary about meerkats. She flops herself down next to him and props her legs up on the coffee table.

His eyes slowly make their way to stare at her. He looks exhausted—more so than usual. "Just a bit," he yawns and stretches his arms out. He ends up hitting Artemis in the face. He turns to her and smirks, "Oops." His face is slightly illuminated by the TV and she can't help, but think in the year he had grown so much. He wasn't like Dick—forced to be a midget until the prime age of sixteen. No, Jason had managed to break the tiny Robin curse and by the age of fourteen was easily taller than Artemis. He was still awkwardly lanky, but he was going to end up filling out eventually.

Look at how Dick turned out.

"Why are you up?" he asks her.

She shrugs, "I think that someone switched my sleepy time tea with something that has way too much caffeine. I can't fall asleep."

He snorts, "Are you sure you just didn't want to spend time with me?" he gives her that sloppy smirk that he's adopted and thinks that just swoons the girls all the time.

She doesn't want to admit it—but it kinda does.

Not only had he grown taller in the past year, but also he had lost the baby fat that had always defined his face as absolutely adorable. Now his face was all _angular_. Artemis missed the baby fat.

"Aren't you supposed to be in college or something? Or did you already fail out?"

She rolls her eyes and snorts when a meerkats on screen starts to take on a rattlesnake. God, that rodent was stupid. "Totally failed out. You know, it takes skill to fail out before you even _go_ there."

"Been there, done that."

She turns to look at him, "I hate it when I don't know if you're telling the truth or not."

If it was even _possible_ his smirk got even wider—and cockier. "That's what they all say Arty-baby."

"And who is this _all_?" Artemis crosses her arms and turns around on the couch until she could stare at the boy.

He shrugs, "The _usual, _you know? Jealous?"

Artemis snorts, "Please." She leans against the back of the couch and props her legs up on Jason's lap. He smirks, but doesn't say anything and watches the documentary some more.

Who knew meerkats could be so interesting?

"So you're moving in with Wally?" he finally asks.

Artemis looks up to see his smirk wasn't present on his face anymore. His face finally looked more characteristic for the time of night. "Well, _yeah_, we are dating and that just tends to happen."

She watches, as his face remains emotionless—showing his true _bat_ colors. "You know, I don't think red heads would really look good with you," he comments nonchalantly.

"Oh, and what _would_ look good, Jaybird?" she can't help the smirk that's creeping onto her face.

"Maybe someone with dark hair and blue eyes…" he starts playing with the socks that are on her feet.

"Are you trying to set me up with your brother?"

He instantly snaps his head up to stare at Artemis wide-eyed, "No, I meant…" he trails off and settles back into the couch and tries to pay attention to the movie.

"You know, green looks good on you."

"What doesn't look good on me?"

"Hey, mum, I'm home for the holiday—oh, hey Jaybird," she smiled at him before hanging her winter coat up on the hook on the wall. She also threw her bag to the side of the doorway before fully coming in.

She notices immediately that the atmosphere isn't really what she was expecting. The table is covered in papers, notebooks, and photographs—there's a huge box in the center of the table that seems to be the source of all of the clutter. "What's this?" she asks picking up a paper. She snorts once she realizes what's on it, "You went to a Catholic school—wait, you failed first grade English?"

She looks up at her before looking back down at the paper in his hand, not even answering her. That wasn't like him. Not at all. She turns to her mom, "What's all this?"

Her mom tears her attention away from a paper she was reading to look up at Artemis, "I completely forgot that when Willis and Catherine died, that the landlord gave me a box of some of their most personal belonging to give to Jason if he ever came back after he ran away," her mom answered.

Artemis nods and stands behind Jason and places a hand on his shoulder before leaning down to see what he's looking at. She gently presses her cheek to his to read the paper. "What's this?"

"What does it look like," he mumbles.

She quickly reads over the paper, "Um, your birth certificate?"

"No shit, but look what's on it."

"You have O positive blood?"

Jason turns so he could glare at Artemis, "No—well yes, but look at my Mom. My Mom's name is Catherine…the sheet says that her name starts with an 'S'," he explains.

Finally, Artemis was getting it. "You mean that Catherine wasn't really your mom?"

He shook his head and bit his lip, "She's my mom. She raised me, but this chick, _whoever_ she is…well. She's probably alive. My mom might be alive," he explains with a giddy grin on his face. "My mom might be alive."

"Have you figured out how you're going to find her?" she asks and sits down on the chair next to him.

"My Dad had an address book. There are three women in the book that their names start with 's'. I'm going to find them and ask them."

"You do realize that they might be dead or that they might not want a child?"

"I don't care. Artemis, I have a mother, and you know what? I don't care if she considers me the worst mistake of her life. She could be _alive_," he explains and gets up from the table.

"And you're gonna find her?"

"I'll do whatever it takes."

Artemis didn't find out that Jason died until two months afterwards.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yeah, the last one had so many errors because I didn't have time to re-organize it for fanfic. Thank you for reviewing guys! Please review...please?  
**

The Red Hood and Artemis

Artemis skips going to the cave and just goes straight to Wayne Manor. She hasn't seen Jason since he was at her house and he had announced he was going to find his birth mother. Artemis didn't really think much of him not calling her to tell her about it or anything—he was probably still looking for his mother.

Why would he need to call her?

She knocks on the door to Wayne manor, and Dick opens it up. She gives him a hug before anything because she's been around Dick so much that his hugging has rubbed off on her a bit. That or she just likes being held. Either is a fine reason.

She pulls back to see Dick's sullen face. Her arms drop, but he continues holding her with his arms on her shoulder. "Dick…?" Instead of answering her, he just grabs her arm and just leads her outside. He leads her to the Wayne family cemetery that was just barely on the property.

Artemis knows what she's going to see before they even get there. Dick notices her little stagger of steps and puts an arm around her.

Artemis drops to her knees when she reads the grave.

_Here lies Jason Todd. _

She pulls her knees to under her head as she reads the grave over and over again. She knows what happens to some people when they deal with the extreme amounts of grief is that they go into shock—that they don't believe what is going on is actually going on.

Artemis knew what was going. Artemis knows that Jason's dead.

There's no denial—there's no shock. All there is, is just the feeling that everything is suddenly _wrong._ Jason was like her best friend; she was closer to him than she was with anyone. Now he's gone. He's dead. _Gone._

Artemis feels her body going stiff. She can't move. She can't think. All she can do is read the same _damn_ thing over and over again. He's dead. He's gone. She's not even crying. All she is doing is just _staring_ and _reading_.

"When?"

"When he went to go find his mother. The Joker beat him to death and then blew him up. Bruce was too late. He didn't tell us he was going to search for her—"

"He didn't tell you guys?"

"No."

"He told me," Artemis says and feels like digging deeper and deeper into the ground. _To be with Jason_. Because it was _her_ fault he was dead. She _knew_ he was gong to be there and she didn't tell anyone.

Dick sits down next to her, "Luckily, Bruce ran into him eventually. Pure luck. They split up…and…he tried to take care of the Joker alone…save his mom."

"He found his mom?"

"Yeah."

"He was happy, right?"

"I hope so."

She doesn't take the idea of another Robin well.

"Why would you this to another kid?" Artemis shouts not caring that the entire Team was practically in the cave watching them. Artemis wouldn't allow herself to be alone with _Dick_. She couldn't trust herself to let this conversation to go _peacefully_ without plenty of witnesses to keep her in line.

Dick raises an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Make that _kid_ go through the same thing that Jason did!"

Dick sends a look to get the younger members of the Team out of the room. Artemis narrows her eyes, of course. Of course, he was thinking about the whole secret identity thing. Can't they just put it behind for a while? "What do you mean, Artemis?"

She nearly smacks him from just how _stupid _he was being. "You."

"_Me_?"

"Yes, you."

"What did I do?"

"You were—_are_ perfect."

"And…"

"You're that fucking dense, Dick?" she seethes. All she wants to do is just punch and kick him, but then everyone wouldn't take her seriously. Who was going to listen to a screaming and kicking girl? "You were the _Golden Boy_. You don't know how many times Jason came to _me_ because that's the only thing he would hear from you or Bruce. How he _wasn't _you. You don't know what's it like being _second_ being the _replacement._"

"And you did? The only person who treated you like a replacement was Roy."

She nearly punches him, but manages to keep back. She sees that members of the old Team are watching. Waiting. "I'm not talking about _Roy_. I was second to my own sister. I wasn't my Dad's first choice. He wanted to take _Jade _to be the assassin, but you know what? She left. I took her place. Whenever my Dad would train me, he would always talk about how Jade would have done this better or some other shit like that. Jason went through the same goddamned thing."

"Bruce had given him so much and it seemed the only thing Bruce wanted was for Jason to be _you._ He tried. He told me about this. Bruce had given him so _much_ and he couldn't give Bruce what he _wanted._ Do you know what that does to a kid? Much less Jason. Jason hasn't had a family in years and when he finally gets one all it seems to him is that he just lets them down.

"And you know what, Dick? He probably died thinking about how he should have been _more like you_. Because you would have gotten out of that warehouse. Because you're _perfect._"

She stops and just looks at him. She waits. She waits for him to tell her that she's wrong or that she was out of line. Artemis can feel her mouth going dry as Dick bows his head. "I'm sorry, Arty…"

"Don't be sorry for me. Jason died thinking he wasn't good enough. If anything, you should be apologizing to Jason, but it's just too fucking late now because he's _dead_."

She hears about the rumors. About a new costume in Gotham.

Artemis doesn't think much about them at first, but it comes up again in the news. And again. And again. It becomes hard for her to ignore it.

This new costume is apparently trying to take over the drug trade in Gotham. All of it. Artemis has to admit that she hasn't seen someone do such a strong-headed move in so long, that she is initially impressed. Not only was it an impressive move, but there is also the fact that he is also managing to execute this plan quite flawlessly.

She expects Batman will have him in jail in about a week.

Artemis watches the news with her Mom. The news is always talking about this new costume now because of just how _successful _he is. Artemis feels a bit annoyed at how they are glamorizing the new costume, but admits that he has skills. He has managed to avoid Batman thus far.

A week later, and the costume are still on the streets making a mess of Gotham. She debates on maybe calling Dick, asking if he thinks Bats would want another vigilante on the streets since Robin—the _new_ one—was away on some Team business.

She finds out that the "mission" that the Team was on was apparently busy work to keep the new Robin out of Gotham.

Something just wasn't right…

Another week later and she hears about the explosion in Crime Alley.

The rumors erupt in the hero-ing world soon after that about the new costume in Gotham—the Red Hood. Something about he isn't just the run-of-the-mill criminal. Artemis hears about everything she knows from Zantanna. Zantanna talks about how Batman has locked any hero out of Gotham for the time being because of this new costume.

He was supposed to be different than the rest of the criminals.

Artemis didn't think so. Sure, he had guts, but anyone can have guts and be fancy with a gun. _Anyone. _

She hears from another rumor—from Zantanna who heard it from Wally, the new Flash—that seems to pique her interest more than the rest. She quickly calls Babs to find out how reliable this information is.

Babs won't say anything.

Artemis begins to re-watch the tapes of the news that were about the new costume. Everything seemed familiar. _Every_. The way this new criminal moved. The way he fought. It was too similar for Artemis' liking.

All Artemis can think about now is the Lazarus pit and just how easy _it_ is.

She steps into the dusty, rundown apartment and waits. He would be back soon. This is where he lived. He had to come back soon enough. She would wait. This wasn't a thing that she was willing to rush. It would scare him away. He was in a fragile state at the moment. He…

Artemis promised she wouldn't judge until Jason was here himself and she could ask him what was going on.

Nearly an hour later she heard the creak of the window. He didn't use the door. _Once a bat, always a bat._ Artemis thinks with a smirk. Before she could even move to meet him, a click of the gun threatens her to stay leaning against the wall. She lazily raises her head to see the boy.

"You really gonna shoot me?"

The words come out of her mouth without thinking. That's the thing with Jason—she doesn't need to think about what to say or how to have a conversation with him, it just comes naturally. Of course, it was weird because for the past two years she has thought that he was dead.

There was a moment when she thought he was going to drop the gun, but he kept it pointed at her chest—no her shoulder, he won't kill her. "What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Seeing if the rumors were true. Are they, _Jason_?" it was the first time she has used his name in a long time. Even when he was alive she barely used his first name. It was always playful nicknames, but now, with his gun pointed at her chest, didn't really seem to be the time for playful banter.

"Artemis. Go."

It was an order, but Artemis didn't care. He wasn't her boss. He was her…

"I wanna know what happened," her voice is softer this time. She can't help but let it show through that she actually does _care_ about him. She would swear up and down about not, but he was still that little boy down the hall that would always come over for some real Vietnamese food. She cared—_cares_ about him, but she wasn't sure if she cares about _him_—the boy, no _man,_ standing in front of her wasn't Jason Todd. He was just… Artemis didn't even know.

This time, Jason gulps, but his gun is still trained on her ready to kill—or injure her—just in case. "It doesn't matter, go."

Her eyes narrow until she finally makes her decision. She pushes herself off of the wall and slowly walks over to Jason. There's an obvious panic that shudders through his body. His helmet is still on. Artemis can't judge his expression. The only thing she's going on is just how she _expects _him to act. Hopefully dying hasn't changed him too much.

It doesn't take long for his gun to be touching her shoulder—he had immediately moved it away from a direct path to her heart. "Tell me what happened or shoot me. It's your choice, Jason."  
"Did Bats send you, is that why you're here?" he asks. She can feel his gun pushing even harder into her shoulder.

"What happened?"

"Was it Dick? Who's making you do _this_?"

She sighs. Her hands slowly creep up until they rested on his gun. With a flick, she let the ammo of the small handgun drop to the floor. Then she reaches up and put both of her hands on his mask. "How do I—?" His hands cover hers in response and he lifts the mask off and lets it clatter to the floor.

There's no doubt, even with the domino mask covering his eyes, she still recognizes Jason. It's hard not to recognize the boy.

She just stares at him for a long while. She can feel her face going tight from not knowing how to exactly react. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she's…_conflicted. _She's a hero. He's suddenly a villain, and all she wants to do is comfort and hold him. She can't though. Because even if he does have a reason for what he's doing, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that it's _wrong_.

"Why did you do this?"

"Artemis, he's letting _him_ go on killing people even after _he _took me away. I thought he would make sure I was the last person he hurt, but in the last month _alone_, the Joker has killed thirty people. Brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, friends, they're all dead because Bruce won't let one goddamned man get what he deserves," he explains and finally drops the gun, but doesn't back up away from her.

"That's not what I meant."

His mask quirks up in the way that shows that he's raising an eyebrow at her, "Then what?"

"Why did you become one of _them_?"

"What…?"

"You're no better than the rest of them, _Jason_. You think you're in the right because you're killing the 'bad' people? You say the Joker is in the wrong because he's killing people's family, but what about the people _you_ kill? They could have families too. My Dad was one of those 'bad' people—same with your dad. Would you have left me fatherless?"

"It's different, Artemis."

"_How?_ How are you any different than those people? You are just like my dad, your dad, even the_ Joker._"

Artemis knows she's gone too far when he slams her against the wall and her head makes a satisfying crack against the dry wall. His arm presses up on her throat, restricting her air. "Don't compare me to _him._"

"Then don't be him."

She finds out that he's attacked Tim Drake—the _new_ Robin—around two months after she confronted him.

It takes everything in her not to just attack Jason Todd on sight. Instead, she waits and figures out how she is going to do this exactly because she is just _tired_ of this. Of _him._ She has to ask a friend a favor before she goes to one of Jason's drug houses.

She takes out everyone there and just waits for the news of a costume messing with his business, so that Jason would come rushing in and find the mess she made.

She was dealing with the final man—the leader, it seemed—when Jason came bursting into the scummy office. Artemis raises her crossbow and aims it at Jason while still holding the boss by his hair, "Don't move," she orders.

"Artemis, what are you—"

"I said, don't move, _Jason._ Sorry, Mr. Falcone, but me and Jason need to have a personal talk, which means you can't be awake." The crushing of the man's face against the corner of the desk seems to shock Jason out of whatever stupor seeing Artemis had put him in. Artemis lets the man drop—not even showing any remorse that she had just crushed a man's face in.

"Artemis, what are you doing here?" Jason asks.

Artemis leans against the desk, but her crossbow is still aimed directly at his chest, "Why did you hurt Tim?"

"Why are you dressed like _that_?"

"Jason, answer the damned question."

"He replaced me—"

"You said you would only hurt _bad_ people Jason. What the fuck did Tim do to deserve what you did to him? Is he a bad person?" Artemis asks as she moves closer to Jason.

Jason stares at her, unmoving. "Why are you in a costume?" he finally asks.

Artemis' stance doesn't waver at all, "Why does it matter?"

"I thought you were quit the hero gig for college."

"I don't get to quit, _Jason._ I was born into this."

"Artemis—"

"Jason, _listen_. I'm done with letting you parade around like you're above the law with your own set of rules. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of _you_. You don't know how much grief I gave Tim when he first became Robin. And you know why I did it? It was because he wasn't _you,_" she explains and finally lets her crossbow drop from where it had been aimed at his chest. Her body slightly shook as she spoke. "I was no better than _Bruce_ when he would judge _you_ because you weren't Dick. It seems that you did the same fucking thing. You're no better than me or Bruce," she seethes.

Jason knows that he should be paying attention, but all he can think is about how everything has changed with his death. Aside from the physical appearance, the sudden hostility was a major change too; it was just all almost too much.

Artemis was now in front of him, but she _wasn't_ Artemis. The girl in front of him was dressed as the Huntress. A persona that was already taken—or at least what Jason thought. The black outfit with a white cross and a "tummy window" as Jason liked to call it.

Of course she couldn't get rid of the midriff.

"Listen Jason, either you clean up or I will _make_ you anyway I can."

Jason narrows his eyes—even though she can't see that, he's wearing his hood. He lets out a small chuckle, "Of course you will."

It was meant to be lighthearted. Not to offend her, but it set her off more than probably anything that he could of said. "You come back to life and this is what you do?"

"Art—"

"I'm starting to wonder why the hell you came back to life and not some other people. Why do you deserve it when there's other people who—people who could be alive, and you're just wasting it!" she cried out and finally punched him in the chest. He watches as she keeps her fist pressed against his chest and she lets out another cry.

"Artemis…"

"You died and now you're back, why are you throwing this away?" she looks up at him, and Jason wonders, _what did he miss?_ What happened while he was dead?

"I don't know who you are."

An informant tells him a couple days later that the first Huntress, Paula Nguyen, has passed in a fire and that her daughter, Artemis Crock, has taken up the mantel.


End file.
